Manufacturing components for vehicles such as aircraft and aerospace vehicles, ground vehicles, etc., from fiber sheets is well known. A composite part including a plurality of composite plies or sheets that are pre-impregnated with an uncured resin (i.e., prepregs) may be assembled during a layup process. During layup, several (e.g., 20, 40, or more) uncured composite plies are stacked, and then air that may be trapped between each of the several plies may be removed using a vacuum during a “debulk” process. Subsequently, the resin may be cured in an oven or an autoclave.
The fiber sheets should remain free from defects such as contaminating particulates of foreign material (e.g., bagging materials, tape, braiding material, etc.) and cracks, pits, and other defects during the layup process. These defects can result in delamination, porosity, and wrinkling of the component if they remain subsequent to curing which can, in turn, result in scrapping of the component.